TONY Abbott has defended his plans to roll out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin when he hosts the G20 in Brisbane in November.

And he has also addressed the issue of climate change in a joint press conference with the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, during his visit to that country — saying he would reject any international climate change deal that would “clobber the economy”.

In a statement that clashes with US President Barack Obama’s push for new global emissions reduction targets, Mr Abbott said climate change was “not the only or even the most important problem in the world”.

Focusing on the ongoing situation in Ukraine — which promoted him to brand Mr Putin a “bully” over Moscow’s military involvement in the country — Mr Abbott today confirmed he still wanted the Russian president to attend the key economic summit this year.

Standing with Mr Harper — who has been a strong critic of Mr Putin — Mr Abbott said it “would be a pity” if any leader in the group of major economies was excluded from the summit.

Mr Abbott maintained his calls for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine and said he hoped this would happen before the G20 meeting.

Mr Putin was excluded from the smaller G8 summit after Moscow annexed Crimea.

The group, now known as the G7, met last week in Brussels without Mr Putin.

But Mr Abbott said the G20 has a greater focus on economic issues and countries should not be excluded because they were anti-democratic or breached human rights.

“It’s not a gathering of nations which are liked-minded on questions of alliance, on matters of democracy and the treatment of human rights and the rule of law,” Mr Abbott said of the G20.

“But that doesn’t mean it isn’t capable of doing very good work.”

Mr Harper, who recently described Mr Putin as an “extreme nationalist” and “imperialist”, said there was no support among other G20 leaders to exclude him from the summit.

The comments came after Mr Abbott yesterday accused Mr Putin of bullying and urged him to withdraw from Ukraine.

“Let’s not minimise the affront to international stability and the affront to the ordinary norms of behaviour between nations which Russia has been responsible for,” Mr Abbott said at the time.

“It’s bitten off the Crimea, it’s obviously interferring in Ukraine and this should stop.”

“No country has a right to bully another country just because it can.”

DON’T CLOBBER THE ECONOMY, STUPID

Addressing the issue of climate change, Mr Abbott — who is due to meet the US President this week — said we should work to cut pollution, but not at severe economic cost.

Mr Abbott said Mr Obama’s plans to force states to reduce emissions from power stations by 30 per cent by 2030 were similar to his own “direct action” policy of planting trees and paying companies to cut emissions.

“I am encouraged that President Obama is taking what I would regard as “direct action” measures,” Mr Abbott said.

“We should do what we reasonably can to limit emissions ... but we shouldn’t clobber the economy.”

“That’s why I have always been against a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme because it harms our economy without necessarily helping the environment.”

The statement comes only days before Mr Abbott is due to meet Mr Obama for his first working visit to the White House.

Mr Obama wants to champion a new global climate change deal by putting it high on the agenda at the G20 in Brisbane in November and at a United Nations conference next year.

Red, white and blue ... Tony Abbott inspects the Royal Canadian Dragoons during his visit to Parliament Hill in Ottowa. Picture: Jake NowakowskiSource:News Corp Australia

At their joint press conference in the Canadian parliament, Mr Harper enthusiastically backed Mr Abbott’s plan to scrap the “job-killing carbon tax”.

Mr Harper said he did not feel pressure to toughen his own climate change regulations as a result of anything the US did.

He also warned against political leaders making strong claims about the extent of their cuts to emissions because no country would do anything that would cost jobs or growth.

“It’s not that we don’t seek to deal with climate change,” Mr Harper said.

“We seek to deal with it in a way that will protect and enhance our ability to create jobs and growth.”

“No matter what they say, no country is going to undertake actions that are going to deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten rebuked Mr Abbott’s “flat-earth views”, arguing climate change should be on the G20 agenda because it is not just “an environmental issue”.

“It is a security issue and it is absolutely an economic issue,” Mr Shorten said.

“Tony Abbott is sticking his head in the sand and ignoring the problem. His direct action policy is an international joke.”

“It does nothing to tackle pollution, it’s expensive, it’s inefficient, and it will leave Australia lagging behind in the race to create the jobs of the future. It’s an act of economic negligence.”

Mr Shorten said there are few challenges that will have as great an impact on Australia’s future standard of living as our response to climate change.

“If we want to make sure the new, clean technologies are developed here, and that the jobs of the future are created here, then we have to be part of the solution.”

“The pesident of the United States and other global leaders recognise that clean air, low pollution and new technologies will be good for jobs and the economy, so why can’t our prime minister?”

Mr Abbott should not “shirk” the issue when he sits down with President Obama, or at the G20 later this year, the Labor leader said.